Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

123 If it had not been that the Lord was with us, let Israel now say:

² If it had not been that the Lord was with us, When men rose up against us,

³ Perhaps they had swallowed us up alive. When their fury was enkindled against us,

⁴ Perhaps the waters had swallowed us up.

⁵ Our soul hath passed through a torrent: perhaps our soul had passed through a water insupportable.

⁶ Blessed be the Lord, who hath not given us to be a prey to their teeth.

⁷ Our soul hath been delivered as a sparrow out of the snare of the fowlers. The snare is broken, and we are delivered.

⁸ Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

20 Then Sophar the Naamathite answered, and said:

² Therefore various thoughts succeed one another in me, and my mind is hurried away to different things.

³ The doctrine with which thou reprovest me, I will hear, and the spirit of my understanding shall answer for me.

⁴ This I know from the beginning, since man was placed upon the earth,

⁵ That the praise of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment.

⁶ If his pride mount up even to heaven, and his head touch the clouds:

⁷ In the end he shall be destroyed like a dunghill, and they that has seen him shall say: Where is he?

⁸ As a dream that fleeth away he shall not be found, he shall pass as a vision of the night:

⁹ The eyes that had seen him, shall see him no more, neither shall his place any more behold him.

¹⁰ His children shall be oppressed with want, and his hands shall render him his sorrow.

¹¹ His bones shall be filled with the vices of his youth, and they shall sleep with him in the dust.

¹⁶ For we have not by following artificial fables, made known to you the power, and presence of our Lord Jesus Christ; but we were eyewitnesses of his greatness.

¹⁷ For he received from God the Father, honour and glory: this voice coming down to him from the excellent glory: This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.

¹⁸ And this voice we heard brought from heaven, when we were with him in the holy mount.

¹⁹ And we have the more firm prophetical word: whereunto you do well to attend, as to a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:

²⁰ Understanding this first, that no prophecy of scripture is made by private interpretation.

²¹ For prophecy came not by the will of man at any time: but the holy men of God spoke, inspired by the Holy Ghost.